Monthly Archives: March 2017

In a recent scan of the e-literature on the reciprocal impact of Agile on HR, I connected some very interesting insights which I’d like to share. A set of insights that looks like ripples across the surface of a pond. Ripples that started when the Agile stone was thrown into the pond in 2001. In its simplest form, Agile is about a different way of working with each other in teams. Teams that are cross-functional, collaborative, co-located and customer-driven in their decision making. The insights provide compelling reasons why HR needs to take an active role in Agile implementations.

Insight #1

“In the most successful Agile transformations, HR is a driver of the change and a key hub that steers other departments’ success.”

(cPrime.com)

HR certainly needs to be ‘a’ driver in the change, but not ‘the’ (sole) driver. Rather they need to partner in the change. Successful Agile transformations will benefit from HR’s expertise in

Organizational Effectiveness

Learning & Development

Workforce Planning & Talent Management

Total Rewards

The driver of the change, historically IT, will need HR’s help to manage the impact to people and traditional HR processes/tools. As the change scales and starts to impact other departments in the business, HR can play a large role in ensuring the business overall stays aligned in delivering end-to-end value to customers.

Insight #2

“2016 will be the year of Agile HR… most HR teams have no clue what Agile HR means.”

(HR Trend Institute)

Agile was a hot topic for HR in 2016 as evidenced by the number of times ‘Agile HR’ has made the shortlist of topics being brainstormed for HR conferences and networks. It was the #1 trend on the 2016 HR Trend Institute list. Its popularity is not cooling off in 2017. And yet most HR teams still don’t have a clue what ‘Agile’ means, never mind what ‘Agile HR’ means.

Insight #3

“As the world becomes more volatile, organizations need to find ways to become highly agile. HR will need to support a world where people may no longer have predefined ‘jobs’ that lock them into doing one activity.”

(HRO Today)

Agile has entered the mainstream. A necessity given the VUCA[1] world we live in. Agile is no longer the sole domain of IT. The common refrain from all C-suite leaders these days is increased agility and nimbleness across the entire business – not just IT. The impact of capital ‘A’ Agile or small ‘a’ agile will affect HR. People will no longer have predefined jobs – People’s career paths will change. In this VUCA world, standardized career paths are no longer effective. Batch-of-one career paths will become the norm.

Insight #4

“HR’s job is not just to implement controls and standards, and drive execution—but rather to facilitate and improve organizational agility.”

(Josh Bersin)

The HR profession itself has been going through its own transformation. The HR profession has evolved from an administrative and transactional service to a strategic business stakeholder with a seat at the executive table. The role of HR now includes a focus on organization-wide agility and global optimization of departmental efforts.

Insight #5

“Human capital issues are the #1 challenge for CEOs globally.”

(The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2016)

The Conference Board’s 2016 survey of global CEOs ranked human capital issues as the number one challenge. It has been number one for the last four years in a row. Within that challenge, there are two hot-button issues:

Attracting and retaining top talent

Developing next-generation leaders

The adoption of agile ways of working will change

How we recruit and engage

How we nurture and grow not only our leaders but our talent in general

In the words of Robert Ployhart, “…employees don’t just implement the strategy – they are the strategy”[2]. CEOs around the world would tend to agree.

The net of these insights is the more HR professionals understand Agile and its implications, the more effective Agile or agile initiatives and people/strategy will be.

I’d like to see HR ride the wave.

[1] VUCA is an acronym introduced by the US military to describe a state of increased Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity

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Note: This review is based on an incomplete pdf copy of Product Mastery that was shared with the reviewer, which therefore limits discussion of the book.

Geoff Watts, author of Scrum Mastery, has now released Product Mastery: From Good to Great Product Ownership, published by Inspect & Adapt Ltd. The book contains two Forewards by Jeff Sutherland and Roman Pichler, both masters in the field of Scrum management.

The prose Watts uses is straightforward and provides an easy and intelligent read even for the layman, with graphs and illustrations that illuminate his ideas.

The book is built around the idea of DRIVEN, an acronym Watts uses to discuss the traits and characteristics of a great product owner. The book uses each letter as headings, i.e. D = Decisive, R = Ruthless, I = Informed, V = Versatile, E = Empowering, and N = Negotiable. Each heading offers pragmatic advice into the many responsibilities of being a product owner. I will give a few snippets of some insights that Watts shares.

In the first section, entitled “Decisive,” Watts creates stories and discussion that show how product owners need to have courage and trust themselves and others to make decisions, often with incomplete information. He gives strategies to make the decision-making process easier, such as reducing the number of options a product master is considering, and prioritizing. He cites Edison as once famously saying, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Under “Ruthless” Watts shares a mantra used by product owners: “If the product is going to fail, then I would rather it fail in month 2 than month 22.” In other words, it is better to develop the wrong thing quickly and get feedback, than wait too long in an effort to make sure no mistakes are ever made.

The third section is called “Informed.” Watts includes a quote by Roman Pichler, author of Agile Product Management with Scrum, who told him: “Customer feedback is the basis for ideas. Customer data is the basis for decisions.” Watts then cites the experience of a company that creates mobile games. Rather than ask for ratings or feedback, the company monitors actual usage of their games.

Under the last heading, “Negotiable,” he outlines games to play when negotiating attributes of a product. In this section Watts makes it clear that product owners need to be careful to not fall into the trap of being a perfectionist. He writes: “The temptation to just add a little extra here or there is very strong; but those little bits here or there quickly add up and can easily lead to significant delays, not to mention an unnecessarily cumbersome product to support.”

Product Mastery is a book that is sure to attract a wide readership as it provides a balance

between vision, direction and execution. Wisely, Watts is not dogmatic in his style. He gives numerous approaches to the items under a product owner’s watch. He writes: “Great product owners know how to find the right middle ground, one with an appropriate balance of data and intuition – and a good measure of courage.”

I personally will be adding Product Mastery to BERTEIG’s book offerings for our Certified Scrum Product Owner attendees.

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